


A Unique Advantage

by ThatHCWriter



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: BAMF Nancy Wheeler, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Gen, Good Sibling Nancy Wheeler, Graphic Description of Wounds, Homesickness, Injury Recovery, Male-Female Friendship, Nightmares, Past Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Poor Survivors, Reminiscing, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:14:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29291961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatHCWriter/pseuds/ThatHCWriter
Summary: The Campfire is a painfully lonely place. The survivors have each other to lean on, but home felt very far away.Nancy and Steve were different.They might have been a long way from Hawkins, but they weren't quite as alone as the others.
Relationships: Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Mike Wheeler & Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington & Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington & The Party
Kudos: 25





	A Unique Advantage

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to take a look at how some of the licensed survivors would act differently in the Entity's realm than they would in their original material , and I decided to start with Nancy and Steve. It's platonic here, but if you want to read it romantic, that's up to you I guess. 
> 
> Canon-Typical injury depiction, and some angst, but nothing else! Enjoy!

In the last several months (years? days? she wasn't sure), Nancy Wheeler had learned to enjoy silence much more than she used to. In this dark, damp woods where her only friends were ripped away from her whenever the Entity wanted them to go, and the sight of blood and decay and fear were as normal as a math test was back home, the only welcome sound was the soft cracking of the fire, and the gentle strumming of Kate's guitar. 

When it was quiet, Nancy breathed a sigh of relief. It was better than waking up in another one of those outdoor prisons, a toolkit she didn't recognize in her hand and a nagging feeling that she was being watched gnawing at her chest.

When it got loud, that's when Nancy got worried. 

Most often, it was human screaming. Nancy would leap out of her cot when she heard it, instinct taking over as she dashed to the source of the terrible noise. Nine times out of ten, someone would beat her there, and her fellow survivor would be clinging onto someone else like their clothes were a tether to the world they'd left behind. The world they'd likely never see again. When the screaming wasn't piercing the night, it was of horrible realization. It was Jake screaming for Dwight or Jeff, Laurie screaming for Quentin, her own voice screaming for Steve. 

They were taken often enough for it to become normal in a sick way, and they knew the others would come back soon enough, but it never got easier. There was always a sense of dread when a group was gone, always a lingering fear of the way they'd look when they came back.

The worry was silent and pervasive, until someone said the same few words, always laced in hope and dread.

"They're back, Nance, all four of them. Get out here," Laurie barked toward Nancy's tent that day, breaking her from her almost meditative state. She got up in a hurry, racing to the edge of the campsite in a tizzy. She thankfully had the presence of mind to grab a small medical kit from her tent, gripping it tightly as she followed Laurie, Meg and Jake to the edge. Nancy wasn't sure where the rest of them were, maybe recovering from their last trial, maybe standing behind her, just out of sight, but frankly, she didn't care. 

She had Steve to worry about, and she didn't have to wait long.

He ran through the tree line first, his yellow-gloved hand holding firm over his wounded side and his head cocked painfully. Nancy met him halfway, slinging his arm over her shoulders and helping him to the tents without saying a word. Steve's head lolled into her support, exhaustion wiping over his features. Nancy grit her teeth and kept moving, her eyes flitting between the slowly sagging Steve and the opening of her tent, flapping gently in the breeze. She ducked in as quickly as she could, allowing Steve to sprawl out on the thin sheets the best he could. 

He groaned loudly the second he hit the sheet, writhing slightly. Nancy frowned, opening the first aid kit and rifling through it for a sufficient bandage. If she was being honest, she wasn't sure why she insisted on bandaging Steve, why any of them bandaged each other. The Entity didn't let any of them stay injured for long, making sure that they were ready for their next trial, but Nancy still felt the need to help him. 

It just seemed right. 

So she gently moved Steve's hands away from his abdomen, revealing the long, thin line of slowly seeping blood that was causing him so much discomfort. Steve winced hard, but let Nancy do what she needed. She was gentle as she cleaned the wound, dabbing the blood away and pressing a towel to the wound gently as Steve stared off into the distance. 

"Who was it?" Nancy kept her voice quiet, trying not to hurt Steve any further or face the question head on herself. He huffed, throwing his head back against the threadbare pillows. Nancy couldn't help but laugh a bit. "What's that for?" 

"Huntress," Steve deadpanned, lolling his head to the side with a strange look in his face. His eyes were distant, reflective and mournful, a far cry from the lingering fear in the eyes of so many others. 

"What happened in there?" Steve snickered, raising an eyebrow playfully at her. "You know what I mean. Something different happened in there, Steve, you can tell me." He sighed heavily, sitting up as best he could. 

"I woke up in the lab," Steve said softly, like he was confessing to a crime. Nancy's eyes went wide. 

"What lab?" She thought she might know what Steve was talking about, but she was positive that it couldn't be true.

"You know what lab, Nance." She froze, shaking her head rapidly. 

"Are you serious?" Steve nodded earnestly, that strange look not shrinking from his eyes. "Well... uh did you try to contact anyone? Did you try to get out? Shit, Steve I can't believe..." 

"I know. Believe me, when there weren't axes being thrown at my head I was trying everything I could think of..." Steve drew a heavy breath, before turning to face Nancy, "But the Hawkins I just went to? That's not the Hawkins we grew up in. I mean it looks like it but... It's different." Nancy shook her head slowly. 

"You're starting to sound like Will." 

"Exactly." Nancy froze. 

"You're not suggesting.." 

"It makes more sense than the Entity horse shit the others always talk about." Nancy stared at the floor, her mind racing. Steve was right, at least to some degree. but so much wasn't adding up. Questions swam in her head, some of which she didn't want to answer, and her head fell into her hands. Steve sighed and laid back again, humming softly.

"And to think, I was almost happy to be back there. Half tricked myself that I was home, that they were gonna come around the corner and tell me to come with them." Nancy hung her head. "God how pathetic is that?" 

"It's not pathetic," Nancy said darkly, her eyes flitting to the ceiling, "God, what I'd give to go back to Hawkins. Even the lab... I get it Steve." Steve hummed contentedly. 

"You ever think about what you'd do?" Nancy raised her eyebrow, "If you could go back, even for like a day, what you'd do?" She smiled distantly, leaning back and allowing Steve to sit up further. 

"All the time," Nancy mumbled, wringing her hands uncomfortably, "I think about Jonathan, I think about my mom, and Mike. I like to think I'd say something smart, and do something meaningful but... I don't know Steve, it's hard to say. But it keeps me going. Even the idea that I might go home, it helps." Steve smiled reflectively.

"Yeah... I just hope those boys are okay. I can't imagine Dustin's taken this well." Steve it back his emotion and rested his hand on Nancy's, sighing heavily, "You know this might be the blood loss talking, but I'm glad you're here with me. Not because you deserve this or anything, it's uh... It's nice. To have someone to talk to. Nobody else has that." Nancy smirked, nodding to herself.

"No.. No I'm with you. It's nice not having to do this with strangers." Steve snickered. Nancy's hand brushed over his wound once again, noticing quickly just how much thinner it had grown in the minutes they'd been talking. "Well I guess this place does have at least one perk." 

"That was quick," Steve remarked hazily, Nancy shot him a snide but compassionate glance. "What? I know it's been that way, 's still weird." Nancy chuckled quietly. 

"You've got some time before it takes you back. Enjoy it." Nancy's tone was short but sincere as she headed toward the tent's opening, her eyes flooded with memories and unspoken emotion. 

"Nancy, wait," Steve said sharply, sitting up almost a bit too fast, "You say that like it's gonna take you any minute." 

"What's to say it won't? Isn't that normal around here? Isn't that just what we do? This is nice, Steve, really, but we have to be real." Steve bit his lip, patting the ground next to him. Reluctantly, Nancy walked back toward him, taking a shaking knee. 

"What were you going to tell me about Mike?" 

"What?" 

"Just before the last trial, we were talking and you brought up some story with Mike on the Fourth of July when you were kids. I want to know the story. What were you going to tell me?" Nancy sucked in a shaking breath. 

"You don't have to do this." 

"I want to," Steve looked Nancy directly in the eyes, a smile breaking out across his face, "hearing you talk about home helps me too you know." Nancy smiled wistfully, leaning back as if to search for the memory. 

"Let's see, I was ten? Maybe eleven. Yeah, I was eleven. Mike and I...." Nancy's story wasn't particularly funny, not even really all that interesting, but it was just what Steve needed. It was a relic of a time and place he missed dearly, a home he'd sell the world to get back to. And frankly, so was Nancy. 

Neither of them knew if they'd ever go home, or if they even had homes to go back to, but that was not a fear they had to manage in private. 

They had each other, and that was better than the others. 

That was something.

**Author's Note:**

> There ya go! Please consider leaving a comment or kudo if ya liked it!
> 
> Have a great day loves!


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